Dental Globe Trotting: The Importance of International Charitable Dental Missions
August 17, 2018
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My conversation with Dr. Laurie Houston is the first in a series where she will be sharing her experience working on charitable dentistry missions around the world. Dr. Houston keeps a detailed diary of the-more-than19 international missions in which she participated. Dr. Houston is a semi-retired general dentist with a purpose for her dental expertise: to share it with the world. If you wish to get more information on these dental missions or if you have a question for Dr. Laurie Houston, you can email us at oasisdiscussions@cda-adc.ca or call our toll-free number 1-855-716-2747. Until next time! Chiraz Guessaier, CDA Oasis Manager |
Highlights
- It’s important for Canadian dentists to help both locally and internationally. There are local government programs to help provide under-served populations with the care they need. However, with the international missions, dentists are helping on a much larger scale, as these countries have almost no dental care or no dental care at all. People actually die from dental abscesses in some of these countries because their dental problems go unattended.
- The most important qualities that dentists who are willing to volunteer should possess are caring about what they are doing and really wanting to give back be it locally or internationally. The added requirement on international missions, is to respect the cultures that they are living in. Hard working and team-collaboration are also important skills to bring on because these missions are the result of team work.
Read/download the interview transcript (PDF)
Oasis Moment (1.37″)
Full Conversation (9.20″)